


Armor & Illusion

by rpb



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man: Far From Home (Marvel), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Everyone Needs A Hug, Gen, Happy Hogan needs a hug, Happy does his best to step up, Happy has to support both his boys, He learns from Stark and helps Peter be better, Hurt Peter Parker, One Shot, Past Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Whump, both physically and emotionally, dealing with emotional trauma, it's barely referenced in one line but hey better safe than sorry, parallel between Tony Stark and Peter Parker, slightly disappointed that isn't a tag ngl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-06-23 23:20:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19711567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rpb/pseuds/rpb
Summary: Peter's stumbling out of a tulip field and asking questions about what's real and what's not. When Tony had shared the same doubts four years earlier, Happy had let him put on his armor and deal with it his own way. He's not going to let Peter do the same.—AKA False visions are fun and trauma-inducing, and just happen to be another aspect Tony and Peter now share





	Armor & Illusion

**Author's Note:**

> So I really appreciated the reality-question in the tulips scene, but I also wanted more from it? Peter doubting his reality also made me think of what Tony went through in AoU (Maximoff & the vision of the fallen Avengers)… and the repercussions of what that might have been... And how Happy has been there for both… and here we are.

God, was he relieved to see the kid. Happy had gotten bits of what happened - something about a train and Berlin and fighting Mysterio, but no details over the phone. When he finally caught sight of Peter across the tulip field, though, it looked like he was worse for wear. He moved stiffly, the same way Tony did after a battle that hadn’t quite gone to plan. 

Tony, however, usually donned a stubborn air of pride even after a battle gone wrong. A swagger that said he was unshaken and permanent. Infallible - especially if he was in the public eye. Happy had seen him weary and downtrodden in private, but even then was fleeting. Tony had an image to keep, after all.

But Peter?

Peter wasn’t Tony. Not yet.

The kid had no trained waltz or flashed smiles. Even at this distance Happy could tell that his shoulders shuddered forwards with each step, torso unbalanced and overcompensating for what could only be a nasty leg injury. The too-big, bright orange t-shirt he wore was spotted with now-dried blood — it had stopped dripping overnight and now crusted across his cheek and chin. Below the neon, he had on the SHIELD suit from the night before, though it was as covered in grime as the rest of him. 

As Peter came closer, Happy could make out the redness under his eyes. The grimace which accompanied his limp. This kid looked to him like a miracle. 

“Happy!” he shouted, “You have no idea how good it is to see you...” He drew a breath, probably to explain whatever had happened after Prague’s fiery brawl, what had caused the injuries and relocation. Happy had stepped off the jet steps, eager to close the final dozen yards between them, but before he could make it across the kid faltered. Wariness crept over his features.

“Wait,”

Peter stepped back.

“Say something only you would know.” 

“What?”

“I— I have to know that you’re actually…” He looked lost, “how you can— please just prove that you’re real.”

* * *

_  
Tony was more than a little shaken. Happy had rarely seen him exposed like this before New York. Now, though… Tony was in the thick of it. Pepper, Rhodes, and Happy were of the select few privy to his insecurities. Even then, Happy wasn’t usually his first choice of confidant — they hadn’t seen each other as much after Tony donned his Iron Man armor, and definitely not in the middle of SHIELD’s collapse and the HYDRA uprising._

_The raid in Sokovia had been a partial success, but Tony wasn’t his usual self. He sat in a sectioned-off area of the jet, close to Happy but separate from the rest of the Avengers. When his eyes lingered a second too long on the liquor closet, Happy gently offered him a glass of water and put away his phone, inviting confession. It wasn’t long before the man succumbed._

_Tony’s nightmares had found their way into his waking, after all._

_“It was so real, Hap.”_

_“Tony…”_

_“We were all there, the Avengers. They died- were killed. It was my fault.” Tony stared into his drink, eyes seeing past it. “In space, too. Though I guess no surprise there, with all the other bright ideas my brain tries to hand me. It was still on me.”_

_His hands shook._

_“We’d lost, Hap.”_

_A drink._

_The jet engines roared in the silence._

_Happy let it linger; Tony drew a breath,_

_“And obviously it was a mind thing, but it felt—”_

_Another breath._

_“I mean it had to feel real otherwise it wouldn’t have worked, right?”_

_Tony finally looked up, levelling his gaze at Happy; his world seemed to hinge on this reassurance._

_“Well, yeah.”_

_Smooth._

_“It makes sense for it to have felt real, Tony. Maximoff’s file says her abilities are psychological, so of course it would feel real. That’s probably what she based her training around. Sure, maybe she draws from your life and your, your experiences, but she’s not some— that doesn’t make her a prophet.”_

_Tony’s eyes dropped once more. The Avengers were still here. This was one battle. One vision didn’t make him a clairvoyant; one nightmare didn’t make it true._

_But it still… who was to say what the future held?_

_“So…” said Tony, **“maybe** not real.”_

_“Probably not, no.”_

_Both quieted, and Tony stared into his glass once more. He scoffed._

_Happy barely heard him._

_“How do I even know this is real?”_

_Happy hesitated, how could he answer that?_

_Before he could form a response, Tony shifted. Crossing one leg over the other, he lazily leaned into his backrest. He held his drink aloft and offered a lop-sided smile as he looked to Happy. The moment had passed._

_“You’d tell me if you weren’t real, right Hap? I can trust ya’ on that one?”_

_Happy hadn’t expected a heart-to-heart to come. He knew Tony gave his vulnerability sparingly, and to see it run off him like water should not have been a surprise._

_Yet it still hurt, knowing Tony had distanced himself from Happy in the same way he did the press._

_He didn’t push it._

_“Of course, Boss. You’d be the first to know.”_

_Tony grinned._

_“Thanks.”_

__

* * *

“Please, Happy, just tell me— tell me something only you would know.” Peter’s voice broke, eyes already teary. He looked like he was going to drop any second, but held his distance.

What had this kid gone through? Why’d it have to happen again?

What could he possibly say?

Tony would have consoled him in less than a second, the two had so many shared secrets. Shared memories. Not for the first time, Happy found himself wishing he’d paid more attention to the kid when they’d met. 

Before he’d joined the Avengers… 

Happy fumbled, trying to put together the memory. “When you— Tony proposed to Pepper right when he did because you decided not to join the Avengers. Because of the conference they had called.”

Peter’s face fell.

“...both Pepper and Tony knew that.”

Shit. _Shit._ What did Happy know that Tony really wouldn’t have?

Before Tony stepped in. Between the long drives and longer phone calls, couldn’t he remember one conversation? One shared moment?

“You’re right. Give me a second, kid.” 

_Before Tony. Before the calls._

“What about— remember in Germany? You made your bed when we left the hotel? I shouted at you for wasting time and you said you’d never stayed at a hotel before,” Happy desperately tried to remember more, “I think you made both beds actually, and it took forever because you stuck to everything after the battle, and because you had two rooms and somehow messed up both of them. And then the room service had to strip the beds anyway— Tony had left already for Rhodes, and I never— it never came up with him.”

Happy stopped himself, ears buzzing as he hoped that Peter would believe him. Was that too much? He’d rambled. He wasn’t one to ramble, but he was terrified. The kid had looked about ready to bolt. 

Peter didn’t leave him waiting long.

“Thank you— _thank you.”_ Peter covered the remaining distance quickly, nearly collapsing into Happy’s arms. Both of their grips tightened, out of relief and needed surety that the other was truly there. “You have no idea how good it is to see you. I’ve been, Mysterio, he’s not who I thought he was and I did something really stupid— he can make you see things, illusions, though and I, I didn’t know if you—”

“I’ve got you kid,” Happy stopped the tirade mid-way, understanding only just breaking the surface. “First let’s get you in the jet, then you call tell me what happened since that firefight in Prague.”

“Yea— okay, alright.”

He guided Peter in front of him, staying close as the kid clambered up the steps. Happy was simultaneously relieved and devastated. Peter was physically with him. Safe. But under the surface… 

He’d been through hell again, and Happy had missed it. He mentally pleaded that Tony wasn’t watching, but apologized anyway because of course the man would be, wherever he was. Tony had mentored Peter. He’d taught the kid day in and day out after Toomes, and while most of that was useful, Happy knew intimately how the man operated. Recognized how he closed up his insecurities, how he refused to ask for help even through suffering, through poisoning and prophecies. Tony had always been that way — by nature or by Howard was anyone’s guess — and Happy knew he was the worse for it. 

Today, watching Peter this vulnerable, this _open..._ he silently prayed Tony hadn’t passed down everything.

**Author's Note:**

> Be sure to leave a comment or question! I'm not opposed to adding a second chapter in-jet or even further in the future what with their press for time, but I don't have one in the works at the moment. If that seems interesting though be sure to Kudos and let me know!
> 
> Find me on tumblr here: [hey-its-rpb](https://hey-its-rpb.tumblr.com)  
> TMF set to update this week.


End file.
